The 2010 Artie Award Winners

by Anthony Chase

Arties 2010

With approximately 500 people present, the 20th annual Artie Awards ceremonies at the Town Ballroom on Monday night, June 7, were the most highly attended in the history of the event. Funds raised for Benedict House are still being counted but seem likely to have topped $10,000.

For me, the Artie night is the night of a thousand thank yous!

Many thanks to Deb Ellis, Rose Mattrey, Amanda Ferreira and the rest of the Artvoice staff for doing all the behind-the-scenes work to get the show up, as well as to hosts Lisa Ludwig, Norm Sham, and Doug Weyand (who also rounded up headshots of the nominees); to musical director Michael Hake; and to Peggy Farrell (who performed for the 20th time) and Mike T. Jones. Thanks to Jimmy Janowski and his able assistant Noel O’Day for handling the red carpet. Thanks to the wonderfully friendly, patient, and professional staff at the Town Ballroom. Thanks to all the presenters and to the actors and musicians from nominated shows who performed. Thanks to our annual stage managers Bernadette O’Donahue and Karen Nemeth. Thanks as well to Greg Stuhr who helped write much of the parody material, on the phone with Norm from New York City.

Thanks to the Artie Committee for dedicating themselves to more than a hundred nights of theater-going each, and for helping with the logistics on Artie night; and to the participating theaters that sold red ribbons—when the totals are in, we’ll give a tally, but MusicalFare seems to have brought in over $5,000 alone! (A hint to the other theaters—when the actors themselves sell the red ribbons, everybody is glad to give a buck and the campaign goes like gangbusters!)

Much appreciation to Tom Dooney for taking on the truly thankless year-long task of collating thousands of entries about hundreds of performances for well over a hundred shows into the ballot.

In addition to the awardees mentioned below, and to the Career Achievement Award to Vincent O’Neill, Katharine Cornell awards were given to Jeffrey Rockwell for his performance in Two Pianos, Four Hands, at MusicalFare; to producer Albert Nocciolino “for ensuring the delivery of Broadway touring shows to Shea’s Performing Arts Center of increasingly quality with each passing season”; and to Broadway actress Mary Stout, “one of the great character actresses of our time for her memorable performance as ‘Yente the Matchmaker’ in the national touring production of Fiddler on the Roof at Shea’s Performing Arts Center.” Both Nocciolino and Miss Stout were present to receive their awards.

I was entirely surprised to be given an Artie trophy myself, presented by Saul Elkin and Lorna C. Hill, for my own dedication to the theater, and am proud that I did not turn to mush when they took me unaware. Thank you to whomever orchestrated that. Thanks as well to Artvoice publisher Jamie Moses for his vision and 20 years of friendship.

By all reports, it was a glorious evening! Congratulations to the nominees, to the winners, and to every theater practitioner in Buffalo for another year of excellence!

The 2010 Artie Award Winners

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A PLAY

The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Road Less Traveled Productions

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A PLAY

Robert Waterhouse, Freud and the Sandman

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL

Evil Dead, ALT Theatre

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

Kyle LoConti, American Deal

EMANUEL FRIED AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NEW PLAY

Matthew LaChiusa, Red Clay

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY

Ian Lithgow, Secret Order

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Katie White, The Beebo Brinker Chronicles

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Casey Denton, Evil Dead

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Victoria Perez, Four Guys Named Jose…

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN PLAY

Dan Walker, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Kelli Meg Brennan, Some Explicit Polaroids

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Louis Colaiacovo, Falsettos

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Bethany Sparacio, A Christmas Twist

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF A PLAY

The 39 Steps, Kavinoky Theatre

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF A MUSICAL

Man of La Mancha, MusicalFare

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY

Veronica Irene, Tooley & Mary

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN

Gregg Faust, Some Explicit Polaroids

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN

Ann Emo, The Tempest

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN

Chris Cavanagh, Falsettos

KATHARINE CORNELL AWARDS FOR VISITING ARTISTS

Albert Nocciolino, Jeffrey Rockwell, Mary Stout

Photo Gallery

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